AZoNetwork Media Kit 2024 Download Now

Vertical GPTs Will Change the Buyer's Journey

Vertical GPTs are transforming the buyer's journey by providing specialized AI assistance tailored to specific industries and sectors including Science.

AZoNetwork CEO Ian Birkby recently discussed with Chris Conner from Life Science Marketing Radio the journey of building Azthena, an AI-powered chatbot, and its broader implications for the scientific community.

Watch the Interview

Listen to the Podcast

Read the Transcript

CC: Ian, for those who might not be familiar with AZoNetwork, can you describe your network and the types of content you publish?

IB: Absolutely. I’m a material scientist by background, I started AZoNetwork to educate end users and designers about advanced materials. Today, we reach over 50 million unique visitors annually and have a subscriber base of more than a million people interested in commercial sciences. Our business model focuses on providing detailed, edited content across various scientific disciplines to support professionals in their research and development efforts.

CC: You recently built a vertical solution using a custom GPT to curate your site’s content and assist visitors. Can you describe Azthena and its functions?

IB: Azthena has been an exciting project. We first got involved with OpenAI in November 2022, and it's been a whirlwind journey since then. We recognized we had vast amounts of commercial scientific content, much of it encyclopedic, which was well suited for training Large Language Models. Traditional large language models, like ChatGPT, tend to aggregate content from across the internet, which can be a bit hit-and-miss regarding reliability. Our solution, Azthena, operates within a walled garden of our own vetted content. This ensures the information provided is trustworthy and authoritative, which is crucial for our users.

CC: What were some of the challenges in categorizing and organizing your data for Azthena?

IB: Like many entrepreneurs, I’m not a tech expert, but I know what our business needs. The challenge was substantial: restructuring databases, cleaning data, and ensuring it was all relevant and non-superfluous. We’re already working on version two of Azthena, aiming for even higher quality in the chatbot experience by having it ask itself questions and review its answers. The goal is to create specific LLMs that excel in particular areas, making them deep rather than broad in their expertise.

CC: How does the user experience with Azthena differ from using a general AI like ChatGPT?

IB: With ChatGPT, you're getting information pulled from across the internet, which can vary in quality. Azthena, on the other hand, provides information from a trusted source. It also offers detailed references with one-click access to source documents, which are all ungated, ensuring transparency and credibility. This trust layer is fundamental to Azthena's operation.

CC: What does the adoption path for this new technology look like?

IB: Users need to shift their mindset to see AI not just as an extended search tool but as a capable assistant for performing tasks. For example, you can ask Azthena to summarize key issues in genomics or identify key manufacturers in a specific field. It’s about leveraging AI to surface detailed and relevant data quickly and accurately.

CC: How do you see the role of human creativity in the era of advanced AI?

IB: Despite AI's impressive capabilities, human creativity and intelligence still play crucial roles. While large tech companies develop general AI models, there's a significant opportunity for vertical AI solutions like ours to excel in specific sectors. These models benefit from human expertise in building and refining them for specialized tasks.

CC: Where do you think content curation is heading in the future?

IB: There will always be a need for relevant, timely, and unique content. Businesses that embrace AI will gain efficiencies and advantages. Companies that fail to adapt may find themselves outpaced. The challenge is to balance AI capabilities with human oversight to ensure content remains accurate and trustworthy.

Azthena Use Cases

Azthena represents a significant leap forward in utilizing AI for scientific research and commercial applications. By operating within a framework of vetted content, Azthena provides reliable and trusted information, setting a new standard for AI-assisted research. As AI continues to evolve, the integration of human expertise and machine efficiency will drive the future of scientific discovery and innovation.

Azthena leverages this extensive content, catering to a variety of needs, from general scientific inquiries to specific product-related questions.

One key area of support is nanotechnology, a fast-evolving field with vast potential in electronics, medicine, energy, and materials science. By providing access to the latest nanotechnology research and advancements, we empower scientists to explore new possibilities and achieve breakthroughs in their fields.

Discover instant, trustworthy answers to your scientific questions with Azthena. Try it out today and let us know what you think.

Posted by Rebecca Turpin

Manchester born Rebecca has a first class B.A.(Hons) in Photography from the University of Plymouth. Rebecca began her career in 2017 working as a sales and marketing assistant for a healthcare company before moving in to an agency position in 2018. She spent two years running a small agency in Salford until 2021, gaining marketing skills and invaluable experience working with clients before coming to AZoNetwork. Outside of marketing, Rebecca loves anything outdoors, the theatre and any creative activity that lets her be covered in paint.

Related Posts:

Send us an Email

If you’d like to know more, request information on pricing or provide us with feedback, we’d like to hear from you.

×

Receive Scientific Content Marketing Updates

Subscribe to the Marketing Science blog and never miss an update! (We will only ever use your email for Marketing Science updates)

The Terms agreement box above must be checked before this can be submitted.

Your privacy (see our Privacy Policy for full details)

  • AZoNetwork will process the personal data you provide together with any other information we receive from or about you for administration, market research, profiling, and relationship building based on our legitimate interests (or those of our suppliers) to do so to educate and encourage innovation in science. We may retain it for 5 years after your last interaction on secure servers in the United States of America using a trusted service provider.
  • With your consent, AZoNetwork, our Suppliers, or those legal entities that are Subsidiaries or Direct Affiliates of the Supplier(s), will send you information you request by email or tailored on-screen messages.
  • We will not sell your personal data but may share it with relevant suppliers, or those legal entities that are Subsidiaries or Direct Affiliates of the supplier(s) (some of which are in other regions of the world), to enable us and them to provide quotations, content updates and related products and services if you have requested these and to verify any industry sector statistics we provide to them. You can view our Supplier Directory by clicking here.
  • You have the right to access your personal data and, in some cases, to require us to restrict, erase or rectify it or to object to our processing it and the right of data portability. Concerns or complaints can be made to info@azonetwork.com or the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.